. >> house speaker john boehner is also standing his ground, speaking ahead of the president friday. the speaker says he remains unwilling to raise taxes on upper income earners. >> everyone wants to get our economy moving again. everyone wants to get more americans back to work again. raising tax rates will slow down our ability to create the jobs that everyone says they want. >> joining me now, white house correspondent for the hill, amie parnes and "washington post" congressional reporter ed o'keefe. hi, you guys, good to see you both. let's talk fiscal cliff with you, starting with you, amie. the president says upper income americans are going to have to pay higher taxes. leader boehner essentially says no, that's a nonstarter. is all this just posturing and both have an idea where compromise is going to lie? >> i think they're trying to posture. but i think right now, president obama has the upper hand. i mean he's just won re-election. he's basically telling people, look, the american people elected me, because they want a stronger middle class. they want me to push what i have